By Jose de Jesus Ortiz |
September 15, 2009

CINCINNATI — It's not uncommon for a Rice product to have his way when the Astros visit Great American Ball Park. Usually, it's Lance Berkman, one of the greatest players to hone his craft on South Main.

On Tuesday night, however, shortstop Paul Janish, the pride of Cy Creek, was the one showcasing the lessons learned from the legendary Wayne Graham to help the Cincinnati Reds defeat his hometown Astros.

On a night when the aging Berkman was scratched from the Astros' lineup because of back problems, Janish had three doubles and drove in the winning run to lead the Reds to a come-from-behind 5-4 victory.

With his mother, Debbie, in attendance, Janish was 3-for-4 with two runs and one RBI before a crowd of 11,923 and 562 dogs on Bark in the Park night to put the Reds in position to complete the three-game sweep today.

Roy Oswalt, who is pitching with a degenerative disc in his back, settled for a no-decision after giving up six hits and four runs with three strikeouts over five-plus innings. Sammy Gervacio, who gave up one hit and one run in an inning of relief, suffered the loss.

With the score tied at 4, Gervacio hit Corky Miller with a pitch to lead off the seventh. After Drew Sutton sacrificed, Drew Stubbs struck out. Janish followed with a double to put Cincinnati ahead for good.

“I was kidding around with some of their guys and with some of our guys,” Janish said. “I was like, ‘This game is televised in Houston, so I had to do something.' I know a lot of those guys, a lot of those coaches, in particular like (Jose) Cruz. I played with Enrique (Cruz) in college. Even though you're not in the hometown, but it's still on TV and stuff. It was good.”

Eventful first inning

After the Astros took a 3-0 lead in the first on RBI singles by Kaz Matsui, Miguel Tejada and Geoff Blum, the Reds countered with two runs in the bottom of the inning against Oswalt, who was starting for the first time since giving up six runs in two innings last Thursday. Janish doubled and scored in the inning.

“My mom's in town, so that worked out,” Janish said. “She usually brings some hits with her, so it's good when she's here.”

Manager Cecil Cooper wasn't in a mood to discuss Janish, although it was clear he was well aware a former Owl was the one who hurt his club the most as the Astros fell to 70-75.

“Nothing special,” Cooper said when asked his impressions of Janish. “I'm supposed to say something special about him? Come on. Why? Because he's a Rice product? That's what I'm supposed to say? Come on. He doesn't play for us, so I don't really care.”

Berkman was more gracious.

“Yeah, any time you get two hits off of Roy and I guess he got the game winner,” Berkman said. “But, does that surprise anybody if a Rice product does something like that? No.”

Oswalt settled down and got through the next four innings without giving up a run. Matsui's solo home run in the third inning gave the Astros a 4-2 lead.

Trouble for Oswalt

Janish led off the bottom of the sixth with a double to left, prompting trainer Nate Lucero and Cooper to visit the mound. After Oswalt was allowed to stay, Joey Votto hit an double to left, advancing Janish to third, and prompted a call to the bullpen.

Doug Brocail retired the first batter he faced with Janish scoring on the play, and Rolen tied the score at 4 with a ground-rule double to center.

“The last curveball in the fifth it kind of got me a little bit,” Oswalt said of his back. “I was trying to get through the heart of the lineup in the sixth, but I didn't have enough to get through it. We're going to see how it feels tomorrow and then decide what we're going to do. It seems like we're kind of beating the bush right now.”